


Let's Try It Again

by MJ_Oswald



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 1920s, Bullying, Friendship, Gen, Muteness, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, it's just supposed to be a cute little thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 12:35:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2547686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MJ_Oswald/pseuds/MJ_Oswald
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are so many stories about Bucky Barnes protecting Captain America before he was injected with the Serum, it's even in the museums, but what about the time when Steve helped Bucky first?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let's Try It Again

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little story I made up on how these two became friends. I tried to be different. I hope you like it! :)

**Summer 1925**

James Barnes was a bully. Not a general bully though, not someone who jeered at every small child and made rude comments that would earn a spanking. No, James was a bully just to Stephen Rogers.

It was not that uncommon to bully Steve Rogers though. It was just the way James bullied him that made it stick to his head.

Some used false smiles and veiled words. Some used more obvious, hateful words. Some skipped the middleman and just used a fist or two. Maybe a kick.

James did something worse than all of that.

He watched.

For granted, a lot of people would watch and make a spectacle of Steve Rogers and his regular abuse, especially at school, where plenty of people were around to watch with wide eyes as his face got rammed into the gravel of the school yard. Even the kids who he had defended from the bullies, thus getting him in that position, but he did not mind, because at least now the bullies were no longer tormenting them.

Other kids would cheer the bully as he kicked Steve in the gut, a few would turn their heads away, but James would just stand there, looking down at Steve.

He gave Steve hope. Hope that he would put himself between the kid and Steve, finally be able to end it, but he was too proud, even at the age of seven, to admit that. Besides, it’s not like James ever did intervene, just let Steve’s hopes fall and get rammed into the gravel.

So James Barnes was a bully.

 

School was let out on June 10th in Brooklyn that year. Steve remembered rushing home as fast as possible, already able to navigate the winding streets. Other kids got picked up from school in fancy automobiles by their fancy parents. Steve’s mom’s shift never got off until four, which was just an hour after he got out of school, so it was not that bad.

The Rogers lived in one of the grimier areas of Brooklyn. The land of speakeasies and brothels and who knows what else. The Rogers lived in one of the grimmest apartments on the block too, but it did attract a lot of interesting tenants, Steve could give it that.

Steve climbed up the front steps of the apartment and ducked in. The place smelled like mildew, rot, and smoke; the smell of summer.

He clamored up the creaky, wooden stairs. It was even hotter on the second floor than the first floor, also more pungent with smoke.

The reason behind the smoke was because of Annabel White, the nineteen year-old flapper who lived next door. She was standing in her doorway with a cigarette placed between her too-big pink lips, her short, black hair was tangled and sticking up at angles, purple circles hung under her eyes and was still wearing the clothes she was wearing yesterday; a red dress that went to her knees.

“Hey-a Steve. Why are you rushin’ around? Isn’t that bad for your lungs or somethin’ like that?” she said, removing her cigarette from her lips and blowing the smoke out. Steve tried to breath as little as possible.

“Today was the last day of school. I wanted to get home as fast as possible.” he explained to Annabel.

“Don’t go runnin’ from school Steve, trust me, you’ll get to missin’ it in no time.” Annabel told him.

“I don’t think I’ll ever miss that place.” Steve muttered to himself as he walked past Annabel and unlocked the door to his own apartment with the key his mom had given him, locking it again when he went inside.

At least the Rogers’ apartment there was no smell of smoke, and the mold scent was easier to get used to, a lot more subtle. The wallpaper was still peeling though, the afternoon sunlight only making it look more yellow. The wooden floors were creaky and unpolished as well. At least there were two bedrooms and a small bathroom though.

Steve absolutely loved the place.

He sat on the couch in the living area, waiting for his Mom to get back. He picked up the book that was on the end table, flipping through the pages, kicking his scrawny legs back and forth. He could not actually read a lot yet, but he was able to pick out a few of the words in the blur of black and white.

Eventually he got bored with only sort-of reading and turned on the radio. It was playing some sort of song that Steve recognized from corner stores playing it. He started dancing around the room, his hands over his head, the sunlight catching in his blonde hair. He kept on spinning around and around before plopping himself on the floor, looking up at the cracks in the white ceiling, his chest heaving for breath, arms spread.

He was glad it was summer.

  
On June 16th Steve was with his mom and saw James with his mom at the grocery store. It kind of shocked Steve. He never thought of James having a mom. Like, he obviously knew he had a mom, it just was not something he really thought about.

Steve tugged on his mom’s sleeve.

“What is it?” she asked him. He pointed over at Bucky and his mom.

“That kid goes to my school.” he told her.

“Don’t point, Stephen. It’s rude.” she hissed at him. Steve dropped his arm.

“He goes to school with me.” Steve stated again.

“Why don’t you go say hi?”

Steve shrugged, “It’s not like I really talk to him. I just know him.”

“Have you tried talking to him? Maybe he could be your friend.”

“I don’t want him to be my friend.” Steve said.

“Oh? What is this boy’s name anyway?” his mother mused.

“James Barnes. Why?”

“Just want to put a name to the face of the boy, that’s all.” she said, grabbing a can of something from the shelf, humming a nameless tune. Steve looked behind him and saw James watching him. He turned away a moment later, his own mother tugging his arm, leading him down another aisle and out of Steve’s sight.

  
“I’m going to have to take an extra shift tonight. One of the girls is out with a cold.” Mrs. Rogers told Steve, who was sitting in the corner of the couch, still almost-reading the book that sat there. He did not even know the title of it.

“Okay. Am I staying with Annabell or Monsieur Grayson?” he asked her. Whenever things like this came up he usually just stayed with one of them. He preferred Annabell to Monsieur Grayson though, mostly due to the fact he could barely understand Monsieur Grayson with his thick accent, he was nice enough though.

Steve’s mom shook her head, picking up her purse. She was already in her maid uniform.

“Annabell is going out tonight, and Monsieur Grayson has a terrible headache, so you’re going to be looked after by one of the girls I know from school. She has a boy your age, it’ll be fun.” she told him. Steve got up from his spot and went over to the door to get his shoes.

“Have I met them before?” Steve asked her, fumbling at his laces.

“You might have seen them around before, I made sure to ask her in advance if she would be okay with you spending a few hours there, she said it would be great. Her son doesn’t really talk to many people either. Now hurry up, I need to drop you off at her house before I get to work.”

Steve hurried with the last of his laces and jumped up. His mom opened the door and locked it behind them. Steve could tell Annabell was not there because smoke was not hanging in the air. It made it easier for him to breath.

They climbed down the stairs and walked out on the street, weaving their way through the rush of crowds.

Steve did not speak until they got into the nicer area of Brooklyn, where the buildings were more brightly painted and the stench of urine no longer hung in the air.

“How do you know your friend?” Steve questioned.

“From school, like I said before. But we only reconnected recently.” she answered.

The date was June 21, 1925.

“How much farther?” Steve whined. His legs were starting to hurt and he was breathing heavily.

“Not much. And don’t whine.” Steve’s mom said.

They walked a little bit farther. Steve saw the hospital through some buildings. He went to the hospital a lot, so he memorized what it looked like.

Steve noticed that the shops had thinned out and now made way for houses, actual houses! Not crummy apartments like what he lived in, but little brick houses with tiny patches of green grass in front of them.

“Who is your friend?” Steve finally asked. Mrs. Rogers bit her lip a little bit before answering.

“Mrs. Barnes.”

Steve stopped walking.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I knew you would act like this.”

“Does James know that I’m coming?”

“That would be Mrs. Barnes call, not mine.” she told him. She grabbed his arm and tugged on it a little bit. Despite the fact it felt like he was moving underwater, he followed her.

He could hear his heart beating to fast under his ribs, the blood was rushing and pounding in his ears. He could not help but wonder if he was going to die, it seemed like a likely thing, though he had almost died several times before and it felt nothing like this, the thought still popped into his head. Maybe it would be a different kind of death. He would go to Heaven like they always talked about in church with Jesus and angels and he would not have to go to the Barnes household.

His mother stopped in front of one of the brick houses. Steve wondered how she knew it was this house that James lived in. They all looked the same, carbon copies of each other.

“Be good.” his mother whispered at him before going up the steps, Steve in tow.

Mrs. Rogers knocked on the door.

Silence.

Then steps came from inside the house and the door opened to reveal the smiling face of Mrs. Barnes.

“Sarah! You’re right on time!” she greeted Steve’s mom.

_Sarah?_ Steve thought. The he realized she must have meant his mom.

“I know! Isn’t it shocking?” Steve’s mom, Sarah, replied. She looked at Steve.

“Stephen, this is Mrs. Barnes, Mrs. Barnes, this is my son, Stephen.” she introduced them. Mrs. Barnes crouched down and held out her hand. Steve shook it, like he would see men on the street in fancy suits do.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Stephen. Do you like being called Steve?” she said.

“Steve would be nice, thank you.” he told her. She smiled even more and stood back up to her full height. He hair was cut like Annabell’s, except she did not smell like smoke.

Steve decided he liked Mrs. Barnes.

“Thank you for doing this by the way, I just needed someone to look after Stephen. I didn’t want to leave him alone in the apartment and all the usual people who look after him where out-” Sarah began before Mrs. Barnes cut her off.

“It is honestly no problem! Besides, maybe he and Bucky can go play or something. He doesn’t talk to many people, and with my husband away the house is awfully quiet.”

_Why does she call James “Bucky?”_

“Still, thank you. Just tell me if there are any problems when I come to pick him up.”

“I’m sure there won’t be.” Mrs. Barnes assured her.

Mrs. Rogers turned to Steve.

“You’re gonna be good for Mrs. Barnes, right Steve?” she asked him. He nodded. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

“Alright, I trust you. I’ll be back in three hours. I love you honey.”

“Love you too.” he mumbled. Sarah smiled and said good-bye to Mrs. Barnes and then walking down the steps, towards the hospital.

“Come on in Steve. Bucky should be in the living room.” Mrs. Barnes said, guiding him in the house. It was a lot cooler than outside and his apartment, but still humid. The house was nice too, no peeling wallpaper and the wooden floor were all shiny. Steve looked up at the ceiling. No cracks up there either.

In the living room James was sitting on one of the armchair, his knees pulled up to his chest, his blue eyes wide.

“Bucky, I’m sure you know Steve from school- Steve go ahead and sit on the couch. You two can talk or play for a little bit. I’ll be in the kitchen making some snacks.” she said before walking out the door. Steve sat awkwardly on the plush, red couch across from James, imitating his position.

They both just stared at each other for a minute. Steve actual began wondering if James was a mute, he could not remember hearing him talk in school or in the schoolyard. Maybe he just was not good with talking. Steve did not really know how to start either. He wanted to ask why James never looked away when he was being beaten mercilessly, he wanted to ask why he never spoke, but those both seemed rude.

The silence stretched more. Steve could almost taste it in the air. He had to say something before the tension cracked and the world fell to pieces.

“Do you feel like talking?” Steve asked. The question felt stupid, but he wanted to get his bearings with James. James shook his head.

“If it wasn’t me, would you want to talk?”

James shook his head again.

“So you just don’t like talking?”

James nodded. Steve nodded back.

“Okay. Maybe we can play, do something with just me talking, or somethin’. Is there anything you would want to play with?” Steve suggested. James got up from his perch and went behind the chair. He pulled out a toy box and opened it, pulling out a stuffed bear and a stuffed giraffe, then closed the box again. He looked up at Steve.

“What do you do with them?” Steve asked. He could understand if he talked, then you could make the animals use funny voices and have them talk to each other, but he did not know what to do with them talking.

James picked up the stuffed toys and handed Steve the giraffe. Then he went back to the floor and patted the ground in front of him. Steve got up and sat on the floor.

James looked at him expectantly. He still had no idea what to do.

Then he had an idea. He decided to ask James if he was right first though.

“Do you like hearing other people talk?” Steve asked.

James nodded.

Steve started using a weird, high-pitched voice and started making movements with the stuffed animal.

“Hello! My name is Clumsy the giraffe! And I’m here to- Oh no!” Steve said, making it look like the doll had slipped. Then he had him pop up again.

“That was not supposed to happen! As I was saying, I’m here to tell you all that I- Ah!” Steve continued, making the doll fall again. He looked at James and saw that he had a small smile on his face. Steve decided to kick it up a notch.

“Anyway,” he said, still in the ridiculous voice, “I’m here to teach you how to dance!”

He then made the doll make ridiculous, erratic movements not even close to dancing, only to have the doll “slip” again, emitting an “ow!”

Steve looked up at James again and saw he was now fully smiling, which made Steve smile too.

He continued the running gag with the giraffe, changing it up a little bit whenever he thought it was getting boring. Eventually James joined in, just without the noises. He would just have the bear make weird movements and have him fall, which Steve would laugh at, making James smile wider.

Mrs. Barnes came in with a platter of cheese and apple slices, seeing the boys with large grins taking up their faces. She could not help but smile too. She set down the platter quietly and walked out, not disturbing the boys from their game.

The boys did not even notice the apples until a full hour later.

  
Steve was actually sad when his mom came to pick him up from James’ house. After they had gotten bored with the stuffed animals they just played with some of James’ metal cars, making them crash into each other with Steve making noises so it sounded like they were exploding.

James never did talk, but Steve did not mind. He decided that when James wanted to talk, he would talk.

When Sarah knocked on the door three hours after she had dropped Steve off Mrs. Barnes finally appeared and answered the door.

“Steve! Your mother’s here!” she shouted. Steve looked at James. He saw the smile die from his face.

“It’s okay, we should play again! It was fun! Maybe my mom will let me come over again. Would that be cool?” Steve said. A little bit of James’ smile came back and he nodded his head. Steve grinned and got up from the floor, walking to the door.

“Thank you for having me, Mrs. Barnes! I had a lot of fun!” Steve told James’ mom. Mrs. Barnes smiled.

“Thank you for coming! I think Bucky had a good time too.” Mrs. Barnes said, then she turned to Steve’s mom.

“Would you be okay with Steve coming back here, if he wanted too? They were having such an amazing time.”

Sarah smiled.

“Of course he can come over again, would you like that, Stephen?” she asked. Steve nodded enthusiastically and Sarah laughed.

Steve’s mom and James’ mom made plans for Steve to come over on Friday and that Sarah could come along as well. Steve guessed Mrs. Barnes wanted a friend too.

 

It wasn’t until August when James finally spoke to Steve. Their moms had taken them to a small park to enjoy the last bit of summer as it flitted away. Already some of the tops of trees had turned red and had leaves falling.

Steve was in the middle of telling James about one of his visits to the hospital he had in July, telling him on how he couldn’t breath and on how he had to stay overnight.

“You can call me Bucky.” James had whispered. Steve had stopped dead in the middle of a sentence. He had never heard Bucky speak before, not even during the Fourth of July, which was also Steve’s eighth birthday. His voice sounded slightly horse and scratchy.

“Alright… Bucky.” Steve whispered back.

  
**2015**

 

The Winter Soldier, Bucky, James, whatever his name was, had been found several months ago by Sam and had just been released by S.H.I.E.L.D. and was now sitting in Steve’s apartment.

He had not said a single word since they found him.

It was almost like deja vu for Steve. He remembered on how quiet Bucky was before he became friends with him, and even for a little bit after. He remembered how he would sit in the back of the classroom, never raising his hand, never saying a word. teve remembered how kids would call him stupid, saying how he couldn’t talk. Steve also remembered how many fights he had gotten into (and lost) when he started hearing that after they became friends.

He also remembered the day he was getting his butt kicked (for the third time that week) and Bucky pushed the boy away.

“Cut it out.” Bucky had whispered, his voice dry.

“Oh look guys! The freak can talk!” the bully had taunted, pushing him back.

“Cut it out.” Bucky had repeated.

“Make me.”

That was when Bucky had punched him in the face.

Bucky had opened up a lot more after that day, it was slow at first, just some more words to Steve and his parents, then to Sarah Rogers, then to the teacher and the nicer kids at school.

By the next year Bucky had completely opened up and more, he made small talk with people in the grocery store, to people on the street, the local newsies. As the years progressed he oozed charisma and never seemed to really shut up. He also never let himself just watch Steve get beaten up again.

“Why did you not do anything,back when we were kids?” Steve had asked after Bucky had gotten back from Basic Training, both of them nursing bruises from a recent fight.

“Because I was afraid.” Bucky had told him.

They never got further than that on the topic.

Now, in 2015, it felt like he was seven years old again, except neither of the boys were hugging their legs, and Steve knew stuffed animals making noises would not help with this situation.

Steve cleared his throat.

“Do you wanna talk yet?” Steve asked him. James (he decided to refer to him as James until he specified what he wanted to be called) shook his head.

“That’s fine. What about me talking? I won’t ask you questions or anything. Is that okay?” Steve tried out. There was a pause. James nodded his head slowly. Steve smiled a little bit before he began speaking.

“So there’s this funny story about my neighbor…”  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to leave a kudos or a comment! You can find me at kamalacarter.tumblr.com, which is mostly just superheros. Hope you liked the story! :)


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